12/16/08

Are there some of you out there that love cheese crackers? Always have box or two of cheese crackers in the cupboard? And each and every time you buy a new box of cheese crackers you hope & pray that this type of cheese cracker will actually TASTE cheesy? Yeah, I thought so. Well, look no further. Here is the ultimate cheese cracker. This cracker is so cheesy (how cheesy is it?) that after just one little cracker you will be seriously satisfied. After two crackers you will be reaching for a drink because you're so thirsty.Another great blessing in disguise? They are super easy to make. Perfect to serve for a holiday party. Look at the edges, they get a nice golden color to them. I love how lightly crisp these are. Now, these do have a bit of heat to them which I love, but if you don't like heat then omit the cayenne. Sorry the pics aren't that great this time around--we've have days of rain, no sun, so I'm lacking my natural light for good photos.

In a food processor combine flour, cheese, butter, rosemary cayenne, salt, and sun-dried tomatoes.Pulsate a few times until the dough forms dough-likeness, take it out of the food processor and place it on your kitchen counter or cutting board.Shape the dough into a log and place it on a piece of plastic wrap. Wrap tightly. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Use a really sharp knife, slice the dough into ½ inch thick slices. These are supposed to look rustic, so no need to shape them into some sort of uniformity.Bake the cookies for 10 - 12 minutes, until lightly golden brown. They do cook fast, keep an eye on first batch until you see how fast they do brown because the bottoms brown a lot faster than the tops.Let them cool a bit before eating. As they cool they will harden a bit.

Note: my dough batter on a couple of occasions was very dry and hard to form into a long. So I added a dash or two of half & half and it came together perfectly. If you do add in the half & half please make sure to add in as little as possible as it only takes a tiny amount; add too much and you can ruin the dough.

Goodness, you're right! I can almost BITE into the cheese through my screen! Very well done! I was just thinking they would be great with cayenne (of course! no other way!) and behold, they do have them! Lovely :)

Dawn these remind me of the cheese straws they make in the south but I am liking this Italian version better. I was thinking of you last night as I was making candied nuts and I said, "I bet Dawn would be adding chili powder or cayenne to these." I kept them sweet but after reading how you like to kick things up a notch I may get brave one year and jack them up a bit! Thanks for the great recipes! Keep them coming!

about vanilla sugar blog

Unique eats, creative recipes, as simple as possible.What drives me to create? Seeing dishes in restaurants, meals created on TV, recipes in cookbooks/online, and I always think to myself why didn’t they add this or why did they leave out that? Love to question, love to research, and love to learn about combining different flavors and textures in recipes.Recipe creations please email: vanillasugarblog@aol.com